Producer Mark Cortale announced today that award-winning theatre superstars Audra McDonald, Lea Salonga, and Melissa Errico will join the line-up of talent slated to participate in The Seth Concert Series, the weekly virtual series based on Seth Rudetsky's international Broadway series that began at The Art House in Provincetown.
Hosted by beloved musical director and Sirius XM Star Seth Rudetsky, the first event took place on Sunday, May 31 and featured an intimate conversation with Tony award-winning actress Kelli O'Hara, filled with tales of Kelli's favorite career moments and beautiful musical performances from some of her most beloved roles. Stage and screen favorites Jeremy Jordan and Jessie Mueller will headline the next two events on June 14 and June 21, respectively. Lea Salonga will follow on June 28 (at a special time), Melissa Errico on July 5, and Audra McDonald will close out the series on July 12. Each weekly show will premiere Sunday nights at 8PM EST with a second showing Mondays at 3PM EST for viewers in other time zones like the UK. Tickets are available at BroadwayWorld Events for $20.00 (early bird) and $25.00 each.
The concert series that premiered as "Broadway @ The Art House" and now entering its tenth anniversary season is currently housed in more than a dozen major venues worldwide. In its new format, the series will continue to offer viewers a seamless mix of behind-the-scenes stories prompted by Rudetsky's insightful, funny and revealing questions - and the music from the artists' stellar careers! The roll-call of stars who have graced the "Broadway @" series reads like a Tony Awards Who's Who: Audra McDonald, Patti LuPone, Chita Rivera, Sutton Foster, Christine Ebersole, Kelli O'Hara, Neil Patrick Harris, Matthew Broderick, Sarah Jessica Parker, Rosie O'Donnell, Vanessa Williams, Jessie Mueller, Megan Hilty, Faith Prince, Megan Mullally, Cheyenne Jackson, Gavin Creel, Matthew Morrison, Darren Criss, Jane Krakowski, and many more!
The Seth Concert Series is sponsored by BroadwayWorld and StreamYard.
Multiple award-winning actress and singer Lea Salonga is renowned across the world for her powerful voice and perfect pitch. She is best known for her Tony Award winning role in Miss Saigon. In addition to the Tony, she has won the Olivier, Drama Desk, Outer Critics Circle and Theatre World Awards, in the field of musical theatre. She was also the first Asian to play Eponine in the musical Les Misérables on Broadway and returned to the beloved show as Fantine in the 2006 revival. Many fans of all ages recognize Lea as the singing voice of Princess Jasmine from Aladdin and Fa Mulan for Mulan and Mulan II. For her portrayal of the beloved princesses, the Walt Disney Company bestowed her with the honor of "Disney Legend".
Currently, Lea serves as a judge on the Philippines hit version of "The Voice" including the ratings juggernaut "The Voice Kids". Mitoy Yonting, a member of Team Lea, was named the first season winner.
Lea's 2019 The Human Heart Tour saw sold-out audiences and record-breaking sales across North America and the United Kingdom. On Broadway, Lea most recently starred in the 2018 Broadway revival of Once on This Island as the Goddess of Love, Erzulie. The show's return to the Broadway stage earned a Tony Award for "Best Revival of a Musical" and also garnered Lea and the cast a Grammy nomination for "Best Musical Theater Album."
In the fall of 2015 Lea began her critically acclaimed run as Kei Kimura in the Broadway production of Allegiance. The musical, inspired and developed by legendary actor George Takei, tells the story of a Japanese American family forced into an internment camp during World War II. Lea garnered a Craig Noel nomination for Outstanding Featured Performance in a Musical for her performance in The Old Globe production and can be heard on the show's original cast album. Following this, Lea made a guest appearance on the hit CW television show Crazy Ex-Girlfriend.
Lea has toured all over the world, performing sold out concerts in such locations as the Sydney Opera House, 02 Arena, Disney Concert Hall in Los Angeles, Singapore's Esplanade , Kuala Lumpur Convention Center, Hong Kong Cultural Center ), Queen Sirikit Convention Center in Bangkok and Carnegie Hall in New York.She was also the first artist to sell out two shows at Brigham Young University's deJong Concert Hall in Provo, Utah since The Kings Singers in 2009.
"The Maria Callas of American musical theater," as Opera News has called her, referencing both her crystalline voice and dramatic, expressive intensity, Melissa Errico is a Tony Award-nominated actress, singer and author who contributes regularly to The New York Times. First known for her starring roles on Broadway, including "My Fair Lady," "High Society" and "Les Miserables," her recent album, Sondheim Sublime, was called by The Wall Street Journal "The best all-Sondheim album ever recorded." Errico's history with Sondheim began when he selected her to star as Dot in "Sunday In The Park With George" at The Kennedy Center, and she has since co-starred as Clara in "Passion" at Classic Stage Company and in the NY City Center Encores! production of the Sondheim/Rodgers musical "Do I Hear A Waltz?" In April 2020, she appeared in the much-talked about Sondheim 90th Birthday Concert with Broadway.com and in May, was featured on the PBS Poetry in America episode about Sondheim which featured Melissa singing "Finishing the Hat." In addition to Sondheim, nothing in her work has been more constant than her association with composer Michel Legrand. Having starred in his sole Broadway show, "Amour", she went on to collaborate with him on the iconic album "Legrand Affair". After his death in 2019, she was asked to write his eulogy by The New York Times and was then invited to be the sole American performer in the extraordinary two-day memorial to Legrand held in April, 2019 at Paris' Le Grand Rex Theatre. Warner Music/Ghostlight Records recently reissued her symphonic album, which Legrand arranged & conducted, as "Legrand Affair (Deluxe Edition)." She has also been keeping busy through these difficult months by offering multiple live-streams and conversations, teaching master classes for students across the country and producing a delicious at-home cooking show "The Honest Cook" on Instagram, which she chronicled in an essay for Variety magazine.
Audra McDonald is unparalleled in the breadth and versatility of her artistry as both a singer and an actor. The winner of a record-breaking six Tony Awards, two Grammy Awards, and an Emmy Award, she was named one of Time magazine's 100 most influential people of 2015 and received a 2015 National Medal of Arts-America's highest honor for achievement in the arts-from President Barack Obama. In addition to her Tony-winning performances in Carousel, Master Class, Ragtime, A Raisin in the Sun, The Gershwins' Porgy and Bess, and Lady Day at Emerson's Bar & Grill-the role that also served as the vehicle for her 2017 debut on London's West End (2018 Olivier Award nomination)-she has appeared on Broadway in The Secret Garden, Marie Christine (Tony nomination), Henry IV, 110 in the Shade (Tony nomination), and Shuffle Along, or, The Making of the Musical Sensation of 1921 and All That Followed, and Frankie and Johnny in the Clair de Lune. The Juilliard-trained soprano's opera credits include La voix humaine and Send at Houston Grand Opera, and Rise and Fall of the City of Mahagonny at Los Angeles Opera. On television, she was seen by millions as the Mother Abbess in NBC's The Sound of Music Live! and played Dr. Naomi Bennett on ABC's Private Practice. She won an Emmy Award for her role as host of PBS's Live From Lincoln Center and has received nominations for Wit, A Raisin in the Sun, and Lady Day at Emerson's Bar & Grill. Having first appeared as Liz Lawrence on CBS's The Good Wife, she can now be seen on CBS All Access's The Good Fight. On film, she has appeared in Seven Servants, The Object of My Affection, Cradle Will Rock, It Runs in the Family, The Best Thief in the World, She Got Problems, Rampart, Ricki and the Flash, Disney's live-action Beauty and the Beast, the movie-musical Hello Again, and MGM's forthcoming Aretha Franklin biopic, Respect. McDonald has released five solo albums on the Nonesuch label and recently released a new recording, Sing Happy, with the New York Philharmonic on Decca Gold. She also maintains a major career as a concert artist, regularly appearing on the great stages of the world and with leading international orchestras. Of all her many roles, her favorites are the ones performed offstage: passionate advocate for equal rights and homeless youth, wife to actor Will Swenson, and mother.
Seth Rudetsky is the afternoon host on Sirius/XM Satellite Radio's On Broadway as well as the host of Seth Speaks on Sirius/XM Stars. As an author, he penned My Awesome/Awful Popularity Plan and the sequel The Rise And Fall Of A Theater Geek (Random House) as well as three volumes of Seth's Broadway Diary featuring inside scoop and hilarious stories from all of the stars he's worked with. He co-wrote and co-starred in Disaster! (NY TIMES "critics pick") which also premiered to rave reviews in London. In June 2016, he and his husband, James Wesley, co-produced a recording of "What The World Needs Now" with stars like Idina Menzel, Lin-Manuel Miranda, Carole King, Audra McDonald which went to number one on iTunes and raised more than $100,000 for the Orlando shooting victims (and is still raising money. Buy it!). Seth and James have a foundation called Your Kids Our Kids that presented Concert For America; a series around the country featuring stars like Barry Manilow, Keala Settle, Stephanie Mills, Vanessa Williams, Billy Porter, Randy Rainbow and Audra McDonald that raised money for 5 non-profits that have been working relentlessly since the 2016 presidential election. They also present Voices for The Voiceless, a yearly star-studded concert for You Gotta Believe which helps older foster children find families, even if they've aged out of the system. SiriusXM/Pandora recently launched Seth's first podcast series: Seth Rudetsky's Back To School where he interviews stars about the ups and (hilarious) downs of their high school years. The first season includes Tina Fey, Allison Janney and Sean Hayes. When Broadway shut down, Seth and James started hosting/producing Stars In The House (StarsInTheHouse.com)...a twice-daily livestream that's featured tons of Broadway stars as well as TV reunions like "Melrose Place", "Taxi" and "Frasier" and has raised more than $300,000 for The Actors Fund. You can find out more about Seth, and watch his signature "deconstructions", at SethRudetsky.com
Mark Cortale (Producer) most recently formed the developmental theatre lab NEW WORKS PROVINCETOWN and just commissioned a new musical by Scott Frankel and Michael Korie with a book by Jonathan Tolins. He co-produced the critically acclaimed new Off-Broadway musical Midnight At The Never Get at The York Theatre last fall, which received 3 Lucille Lortel Award nominations including Best Musical and 2 Drama Desk Nominations including Best Score. He produced Deconstructing Patti on Broadway at the Nederlander Theatre with Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS starring Patti LuPone and Seth Rudetsky. He created the Broadway@ concert series in 2011 at The Art House in Provincetown where he serves as Producing Artistic Director. The series also premiered in 2013 in New Orleans, in Australia (Sydney & Melbourne) with Megan Mullally and in London's West End with Patti LuPone at the Leicester Square Theater. The series has since travelled to cities that include Chicago @ The Steppenwolf, Beverly Hills @ The Wallis, Fort Lauderdale @ The Parker Playhouse, San Francisco @ The Herbst Theater and Scottsdale @ Scottsdale Center for the Arts. In the 2018/19 the series launched in Boston @ the Huntington Theatre with Chita Rivera and at The Town Hall in New York City with six-time Tony Award winner Audra McDonald. Mark has produced international drag sensation Varla Jean Merman for the past twenty years and also produces the singing string quartet Well-Strung, which he founded.
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